DC Latino History: Signs of change along Mount Pleasant Street
By hola | Published | No Comments
Last night we launched our Summer 2015 Special Research Project on DC Latino History with the first public presentations by Hola Cultura’s talented team of Interns. (See the photos!) We’re examining how the city’s historic Latino barrios are changing as the city’s population changes and more affluent residents of different backgrounds have moved in.
As part of this investigation, our interns visited Mount Pleasant Street NW on July 6, tasked with photographing and describing the restaurants and other neighborhood establishments that represent the Latino community and others the represent the changes taking place in one of the city’s oldest Latino barrios. Here are some of the changes they noticed.
In Mount Pleasant…
Yanina Urquizo (photographer), Esteffany Lemus, Ronal Reyes
The locations we chose are Progress Market, Western Union, Ercila’s Restaurant, Beauthai, and Subway. Western Union, Ercila’s Restaurant, and Progress Market are great representations of the community because, being the epicenter of the Latino community, these places relate to their cultures. They sell food and send money home. Beauthai and Subway stand out to us as change because Subway and Thai don’t fit the culture and food the community represented. Subway is a big organization and most of the places in Mt. Pleasant are small family businesses.
Antonio Garcia (Photographer), Nancy Reyes (Photographer), Cristian Cruz (Note taker), Nicholas John (Note taker/writer)
In Mount Pleasant Bestworld is a grocery store that people in the community go to a lot. Also, Pollo Sabroso is a restaurant that has Peruvian, Salvadoran, and Mexican food that people like to eat. People go to the Mount Pleasant Care Pharmacy as well because they speak Spanish there. Also, Subway is a new restaurant chain that has American sandwiches. Building 3145 burned down but it has been rebuilt. It looks new and may be more expensive.
Gilberto Flores (Photographer), Ingrid Serrano (Reporter), Jasmin Avila (Writer)
En la Mt. Pleasant hay diferentes tipos de negocios con base latina. Por ejemplo, Bestworld Market tiene un nombre en inglés pero es hispano. Vende productos latinos como piñatas. Mt. Pleasant incluye muchos salones de belleza latinos como Melissa y Alex’s. También está la Botánica Boricua (Puertorriqueña). Un cambio que pudimos ver fue un Subway. Era una cervecería que era de hispanos. También hay una tienda de ropa mexicana. Hay un building que se llama Monseñor Romero, llamado en nombre del arzobispo asesinado durante la guerra en El Salvador.
[In Mt. Pleasant, there are different types of Latino businesses. For example, Bestworld Market has a name in English, but it is Latino. It sells Latino products like piñatas. Mt. Pleasant has many Latino beauty salons like Melissa and Alex’s. It also has the Botanica Boricua (Puerto Rican). One change we saw was Subway. It used to be a beer vendor that was Latino. There is a store that sells Mexican clothes. There is a building that is named Monseñor Romero, named after the assassinated archbishop during the war in El Salvador.]
—Photos and texts by Hola Cultura interns with direction and editing by
Dr. Ana Patricia Rodriguez of the University of Maryland
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